The latest processing and packaging machinery innovations can help personal care manufacturers remain competitive while delivering the right brand image, says Liz Finlay, PPMA exhibition director
The personal care market moves fast. Fierce competition and the need to attract and retain customer loyalty means there is a constant stream of product launches and enhancements.
Packaging plays a central role in this process, helping to establish, promote and protect brand image and encourage trial and purchase. And while some of the high end perfumes and cosmetics may attract the consumer for whom money is no object, the reality for the majority of products is that they are competing in a very crowded marketplace. As a result, manufacturers and packers are under the same sort of pressures as any other industry, with the need to maintain effective cost controls, improve efficiencies, increase throughput, minimise floor space, have quicker start-ups, less downtime and improved maintenance.
When it comes to bringing their products to market successfully, investing in the latest processing and packing machinery is a key factor in helping manufacturers to stay competitive. Certainly flexibility and versatility are two of the current driving factors in the development of new equipment for the sector. With many companies supplying to the own label market, speed, accuracy and reliability and the ability to cope with frequent changeovers are also of paramount importance.
The adoption of servo technology for many types of volumetric, tube and bottle fillers is one example of how machinery manufacturers are helping to improve speeds and reduce changeover times. Similarly the availability of CIP (clean-in-place) for many systems can help to remove the hidden cost of downtime for cleaning.
One interesting area of development is that of late stage customisation. A familiar process in the pharmaceutical industry, this involves the customising of standard packs at the last minute for specific end markets, which helps to minimise origination costs and enables packs to be tailored to meet different requirements, such as for overseas markets.
In the personal care sector, late stage customisation is not only being adopted for packaging and print but is also being offered for product variants, such as aerosols, where there is a critical mass of common ingredients and the distinctive features come from just one or two elements. Lipsticks can also benefit from this process, with a specific colour added as the final element to otherwise the same ingredients.
Product formulations continue to offer challenges to equipment manufacturers. Automated systems are now available to fill or dispense anything from free flowing liquids to thick pastes. Filling lines are able to cope with a wide variety of pack designs, with unusual and custom designed shapes becoming ever more prevalent as brand owners seek to maximise on-shelf impact and differentiation.
A noticeable trend in pack design has been the move towards smaller consumer packs for cosmetics and toiletries. This has been driven by a number of factors, most notably the demands of in-flight security measures that have banned packs over 100ml from hand luggage. This has resulted in bottle shapes that were already difficult to handle now being replicated in much smaller versions.
Another challenge for handling and filling equipment is the need to maintain a product’s brand image. This means that systems must offer precise and gentle handling to make sure packs are not damaged by marks or scuffing. Latest fillers deliver the precise level fill essential for cosmetic appearances. Machines ensure the correct orientation of spray caps and dispensers. Tamper evidence is increasingly being offered across a wide variety of packs, and carton forming equipment can ensure that the back seal is placed out of sight to ensure the flawless appearance required for point of sale.
With variable information such as use by dates and batch codes a legal necessity in many markets, and with a growing requirement to be able to ensure full traceability of products, latest coding systems are highly sophisticated and also ensure that the finished codes do not compromise the overall look of the pack.
For shrink-wrapping, case packing and palletising, robotic systems can not only provide the flexibility to handle different distribution requirements, but can also be tailored to handle delicate items at the highest speeds possible.
Many new machines also offer important environmental benefits such as energy savings or helping to reduce packaging material requirements.
Most manufacturers need a variety of equipment to meet their processing and packing requirements and the debate will continue over whether a turnkey installation with a complete line supplied by a single company is preferable to a project management solution that enables a customer to cherry pick the best supplier and optimum machine for each operation.
Advocates of both approaches will be at the PPMA show, the exhibition for processing and packaging machinery, later this year (30 September - 2 October, NEC Birmingham, UK). It’s also the place to see all the latest developments and innovations that machinery manufacturers continue to deliver to help the personal care sector gets its products to market quickly, efficiently and in the finished state that will encourage the consumer to buy. And given the rapidly changing nature of the personal care market, exhibitors will be keen for visitors to update them on the latest challenges the sector has in store.